Link Love...

 

Music Room designed by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell via The Library Time Machine

 

It's been a long time since I've indulged in some link love. Each week I see so many amazing things I'd like to share with you but somehow the time flies and the moment is lost. Not this week. Here are a few things that have been tickling my fancy over the pass little while.

:: 30 Abandoned Places That Look Truly Beautiful took my breath away (am I the only one who finds what has happened to Detroit incomprehensible?)

:: Dave Walker at The Library Time Machine continues to delight with stories drawn from the libraries of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. I particularly enjoyed this one about 1930s interior design and his recent one which takes us inside the Imperial Institute in 1893. If you enjoy these two do take a look around the site. There are some fascinating stories lurking within.

:: How clever is Leeyong? Never have Explorer socks looked so good.

:: I am totally obsessed with Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk's monumental novel, 'The Museum of Innocence' and the whole wheels within wheels story behind it. Do you know the story? Nobel Prize winning author writes novel about a museum then spends prize winnings on replicating it in real life? Check out these gorgeous photographs of some of the exhibits The Museum of Innocence in Istanbul.

:: Finally, it's been great fun following Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Twitter this year - amazing photographs and experiments - but nothing to top his version of David Bowie's, 'Space Oddity'. Take it away Chris...

I Am Anxiety

This week beyondblue released a new Get To Know Anxiety campaign to raise national awareness about the symptoms of anxiety, and to help sufferers get the help they need to manage it. Having lived with anxiety for over 20 years now this is a subject close to my heart. Although an estimated 2.44 million Australians reportedly experienced an anxiety condition last year, awareness surrounding its various manifestations remains low.

Genuine anxiety can not be dealt with by just 'sucking it up' or wishing and hoping that it will go away. It's not the result of an acute reaction to a very stressful situation (although sometimes it can start this way), it's a chronic condition that can have a massive impact on your quality of life. So if you or someone you know thinks they might be experiencing some of the warning signs don't wait to get help, the sooner the better. Yes, it's confronting having to admit that you are not coping with seemingly everyday situations but the sooner you learn the triggers and get some professional advice on how to manage your anxiety the better. I put in some hard yards when I was first diagnosed but I must say that since I've had children I've really let things slide and if I'm really honest with myself I've built my life around my (perceived) limitations. This campaign has been a wake up call for me. I let my last management plan slip past its use-by date but I rang my doctor today and I'm getting back on track. You can too.

Happy Easter...

Spending a lazy day at home with my family, enjoying the cooler weather and baking these sweet little biscuits for Easter. They are inspired by this Fluffy Bunny Biscuit recipe only a much simpler version topped with orange icing and sprinkled with coconut.

Hope you're enjoying your break too.

Treasures!

 

Discovered this amazing place Railway Bizzare earlier today and can't believe I walked away empty handed. So many treasures I just couldn't decide.

 

 

So many patterns, hand-embroidered placemats, balls of wool...

So many records...

 

So very many shoes...

 

How about you? Found any treasure lately?

There's no place like home...

 

 

So, it's official. After a very long four month settlement period we finally made the move leaving our sweet little weatherboard (above) for a larger, more modern abode just around the corner. On one of the many sweltering days we're endured over the hottest summer on record we sweated and swore until every last box and pot-plant was accounted for and transported to its new home.  

 

 

 



See what I mean. Much more modern, open plan. Quite neutral with not much personality yet but that will come. 

 



 

Unfortunately this little fella which belonged to my Nana didn't make it. I'm pleased to report though that he was the only casualty.

 

 

As you may remember it's not that long ago that I renovated my old kitchen so that it was just the way I wanted it so the new one has much to live up to. Never having lived in an open plan environment before Henry still can't quite understand why you would build a 'kitchen in your living room' but it certainly does give new meaning to the kitchen being the heart of the home. For me the kitchen more than any other room represents family and friends so I like to have things out on the benchtops that remind me of them like this pottery jar that my Mum made during a brief pottery phase in the 70s and this lovely oil flask handpainted by Melbourne artist, Daniella Germain which I received as a Christmas present from Tom's sister...

 

 

...who also gave me these quaint little measuring spoons (1 tablespoon of kindness) which sit in front of my much utilised babushka measuring cups, a gift from my sister Angela.

 

 

I love this bowl which Henry painted when he was just three and of course every room in the house must have at least one reference to books. Let's face it, we've got a lot of them but that's a story for another day...

 

 

Do you have a favourite room in your house?

The countdown begins...

Packing up, moving on, trying to remember to breath...

Summer days...

 

 

I'd be the first to admit that I'm not really a Summer person. In the past I've been one of those people who take off Christmas and New Year then go straight back to work (read: the airconditioning!). This year I decided to take three weeks off  to enjoy time with the kids at home and at various beach-residing family members' homes. Bliss.

It was so nice to see everyone exhale and relax after a busy year. For a few brief weeks life ceased to revolve around 'three square meals a day'. Instead, days were punctuated with any number of grazing sessions and snacks became an important part of our daily rhythm. The combination of time to spare and no airconditioning made using the oven an unattractive prospect (although a little baking was done on cooler days) and so we went out in search of delicious, fresh, seasonal ingredients.

On hot evenings and for lazy lunches we opted for simple salads made from whatever we could find in the fridge and pantry. My sister and I were particularly proud of our Spinach and Mango Salad with Feta and Almonds (above) which is great on its own but can also stand the addition of a little barbequed chicken or even sliced lamb sausages. We also discovered the joys of giant couscous and experimented with quinoa as a salad base although the kids are yet to be convinced on the latter.

Having time to make food for pleasure rather than just sustenance was also a joy especially for the kids. We had great success with our homemade icypoles. No need for a recipe just blended fruit combinations the most successful of which were Watermelon dotted with whole Strawberries; Mango and Strawberry Half and Halfs; Banana and Vanilla Yoghurt and, Pure Mango. The wait until they were frozen was a little agonising but so worth it. Edging closer towards instant gratification were the Strawberry Tulips (above) which I usually only make for parties but which the kids made and devoured before I even had a chance to taste one.

Alas, the lazy days of Summer are on the wane. The kids are back at school and we are back at work. 'What are we doing today?' has been replaced by the dreaded 'What's for dinner?' but I'm pleased to say the lessons learnt over our Summer break (eating healthy, fresh light meals; using what's already in the house; making new meals from leftovers) seems to have stuck so if the answer is 'a great little salad I've just whipped up', I'm much less likely to be confronted with sad faces.

Merry Christmas...

 

Let's face it I've been a pretty rubbish blogger this year. I feel I've been going through one of those massively transformational years where the groundwork for the future is being laid out in strange and mysterious ways. I imagine it will be the kind of year I'll look back on and see definite endings and beginnings but at the moment it's still a bit blurry so I've decided to enjoy the present and leave the past and the future to their own devices.

The terrible events in Connecticut this week make me want to hug my children tighter and escape into a better child-like world where fairy bread is still requested for celebrations and Santa is still a very real presence in your life. This will be our last Christmas in this house and surely for one little girl the last Christmas before someone tells her 'there's no such thing as Father Christmas' so I mean to enjoy it with all my heart, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour.

To those of you who have continued to check in on the off-chance I might have something to say, I thank you and to those of you who have just stumbled on this site I promise to do better next year!

To each and everyone of you I wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year.

Resistance is useless...

Is is October already? How did that happen? I feel this year has really run away from me as I look down the barrel of birthday celebrations (so many!), ballet concerts, a much anticipated visit from my sister and preparations for Christmas. My ongoing struggle to balance domestic and intellectual creativity continues to occupy my days but I've come to realise it's not a battle I can ever win outright so I've started my own resistance unit of one and read, think, write guerilla-style whenever I can.

With that in mind, this extract from Sylvia Plath's journal which popped up in my Twitter feed this week had special resonance. Written in 1957, Plath admits she is worried about 'becoming too happily, stodgily practical: instead of studying Locke, for instance, or writing --- I go make an apple pie, or study the Joy of Cooking, reading it like a rare novel.' She finds consolation, however, in the diary of Virginia Woolf where she finds Woolf cleaning out the kitchen and cooking haddock and sausages to overcome her depresssion at being rejected by Harper's! (There's another good piece about Plath and her cooking here).

What is it about cooking especially baking that makes it so diverting? I know I still get a kick from the strange alchemical reactions in cooking - putting together ingredients that seem like strange bedfellows yet happily co-exist in the finished product (see recipe below - where's the flour?). I often find it difficult to 'stick to the script' so there's also an element of uncertainty to my cooking which adds a certain frisson.

So although 'La Resistance Lives On', I'm the first to concede that even revolutionaries need snacks (and the odd burst of procrastibaking) so if you are just depleted from the battle (any battle) you might like to whip up a batch of these Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are ludicrously easy and gluten-free to boot but be warned - one will not be enough.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

400g (14 oz) crunchy peanut butter
200g (7 oz) caster sugar
1 egg
180g (6.5 oz) chocolate chips

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 160C (320F) and line two baking trays with baking paper.

2.  Mix peanut butter, sugar and egg with an electric mixer. Add chocolate chips and stir with a spoon to distribute.

3.  Place walnut sized, slightly flattened balls on the tray and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

That's it. No flour. Not much mess and ready in a flash. You can thank me later...

Nigel Triffitt and the Theatre of the Impossible

Set model for Momma's Little Horror Show (1978). Devised, designed and directed by Nigel Triffitt. Arts Centre Melbourne, Performing Arts Collection.

Yesterday I attended a very special gathering to honour the life and art of writer, designer, director Nigel Triffitt who died recently, aged 62. You may know Triffitt from his work as director and designer of the international smash-hit dance show,Tap Dogs, but he was so much more than that. In fact, his collaboration with choreographer Dein Perry and his work on the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games opening ceremonies were among his last theatrical endeavours.

During the 1970s and 1980s Nigel Triffitt was Australia's No. 1 enfant terrible, a badge he wore loudly and proudly. His pioneering visual theatre productions, Momma's Little Horror Show (1978) and Secrets (1983) marked a turning point in Australian theatre. In an industry still dominated by traditional text-based, plot-driven works Triffitt's wildly imaginative fusion of black theatre, puppetry and soundscape was a revelation. Boundaries meant little to Triffitt and he moved easily between performance genres displaying the same ingenuity and meticulous attention to detail whether designing for theatre, dance, opera, musicals or rock bands.

In 2002, I was lucky enough to hear him speak at the National Puppetry and Animatronics Summit held in Melbourne. By that time he had assumed the role of tribal elder and spoke with great wit and humour about the industry he helped to jump-start. You can see even from this edited version what a remarkable mind he had.

 

If you're in Melbourne you can see some of Triffitt's exquisitely assembled balsa wood set models currently on display at Arts Centre Melbourne, if you're not then you can admire them here.

You can also enjoy Triffitt's non-theatre related writing at Triffitt (family history) and The Great Stumble Forward (travel).